


It's A Funny Little Story

by MaliceManaged



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Prompt, Tumblr: imagine-loki, referenced shark attack, what even is canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 09:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17578052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaliceManaged/pseuds/MaliceManaged
Summary: When tensions are high between the Avengers and their sort-of-resident God of Mischief; Mina steps in with a plan, more or less, leading Loki to reluctantly accept that maybe not all midgardians are acompletenuisance.





	It's A Funny Little Story

**Author's Note:**

> Yesterday I decided that I really, really wanted to write, but none of my current WIPs was calling to me, so I looked through my bookmarks and found this prompt: _Imagine taking (well, more like dragging) Loki to the aquarium with you when tensions are high with the others to keep things from escalating. You end up admiring the sharks, as they are your favourite animal (which you have told literally anyone who’ll listen). Imagine the look on Loki’s face when you casually tell him that you got munched on by a shark once, and that the shark tooth on the necklace you never take off was removed from your hipbone in the hospital._ , and just like that, 2k words happened. I have barely slept. Send help. And cake.

    They were arguing. Again. Mina could hear their raised voices long before she reached the common room, though she couldn’t make out what was being said. It didn’t really matter in the end; arguments always escalated into fights if they weren’t stopped, and fights were very bad for her stress levels, which was bad for everybody given that her powers were very much tied to her emotions.

 

    They did not need another... _incident._

 

    With a sigh she hurried her steps and, without pausing or even a word of greeting, grabbed Loki by the arm and dragged him with her right out the other door, feeling a moment’s resistance before he realised it was her, though he did huff in annoyance as he went along. She heard a faint protest behind them but ignored it, walking along until they reached her room, where Loki finally resisted and pulled his arm back to remain in the doorway.

 

    “This is far enough; I believe you’ve made your point rather clear,” he said coolly, moving to leave.

 

    “Oh, no, you don’t,” Mina countered, grabbing hold of his sleeve, “I am not done with you.”

 

    “You stopped the argument; what more could you want?”

 

    “Correction: I stopped _one_ argument. I let you leave now, you’re just going to end up in another one.”

 

    “And so you removed the source of the trouble; how noble,” he practically sneered.

 

    Mina rolled her eyes. “Sure, keep putting words in my mouth; that’s real mature,” she replied sarcastically, “Not like I’m trying to help you or anything.”

 

    Loki frowned. “Why would you help me?”

 

    “Because you’re doing a terrible job of it yourself, mostly.” That earned her a glare. “Oh, don’t look at me like that; it’s true.”

 

    “Fine; and what is your _grand plan_ to help me, hmm?” he asked slightly mockingly, crossing his arms at his chest, “Am I to be confined to this doorway until I’ve learned my lesson?”

 

    “You’re only there because you want to be; I have a perfectly good chair in here.”

 

    He fought to keep his expression neutral. “My, how gracious,” he deadpanned, sweeping into the room and sitting on the aforementioned chair then looking at her expectantly, “Well? What now, oh, generous one?”

 

    Mina arched an eyebrow. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a brat?”

 

    “Not to my face,” he replied with a smirk.

 

    She nodded then walked over and sat on her bed facing him. “So, what was it about this time?”

 

    He considered refusing to answer, but ultimately sighed, figuring he might as well. As he talked, she began toying with her necklace; a shark tooth that came to rest on her collarbone on a soft leather cord. Loki had yet to ever see her without it, though he had never asked about it, not really wanting to make conversation with her. It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, but he didn’t want to risk forming any kind of attachment to her - or any other mortal, for that matter - and prove Thor right; he would never hear the end of it.

 

    “Sounds to me like you need to get out of here,” she said when he finished, earning a slight frown.

 

    “I’m sure they would agree,” he replied a tad testily.

 

    “I meant _for the day,_ Loki,” she clarified exasperatedly, “Or at least a few hours.”

 

    “And where do you propose I go; since you are so full of ideas?”

 

    She leaned back, propping herself on her hands, and thought for a moment before her expression lit up. “Ooh, I know! Let’s go to the aquarium!”

 

    “‘Let’s’?” he asked slightly surprised. He’d figured she would just give him a destination and send him on his way. Though in retrospect he should have known better; it wasn’t as though she’d ever shied away from his presence, which was both curious and slightly annoying, depending on the moment.

 

    “Yeah! We can go see the sharks!” she continued excitedly, either ignoring or missing his tone, “They’re my favourite, you know.”

 

    “Truly? I had no idea; you’ve only mentioned it a hundred times since we met,” he replied, voice dripping with sarcasm, then glanced around the room at the shark posters practically covering all the walls; the shark memorabilia adorning the desk, dresser and nightstands; the shark themed books both on the shelves and otherwise littering the room; the shark patterned covers on the bed, plus the throw cushions; and the three stuffed shark toys of increasing size taking up the rest of the bed, “Really; who could possibly have guessed.”

 

    “Oh, shut up,” Mina half mumbled, blushing deeply. She stood and walked over to her closet, pointedly not looking at him, which made him chuckle. Grabbing a t-shirt at random, she found it to be the one she’d gotten from the aquarium promoting its then new shark exhibit, and looked back at Loki somewhat sheepishly to find him trying very hard not to smile. “Not a word.”

 

****

 

    They stopped for lunch first, as that was what Mina had been on her way to do before encountering the argument in the common room, and she spent most of it rambling about sharks while he half listened, the rest of his amused attention subtly watching the looks they were getting. Mina seemed to either not mind or, most likely, not notice, especially when he further encouraged her info dump with a few well timed questions. One thing was for sure, he mused; the girl was very passionate about her interests. It was actually quite endearing, though he stopped that thought before it could take too much of a hold.

 

    He was _not_ forming attachments to the mortals, dammit.

 

    By the time they reached the aquarium, Mina was practically vibrating with excitement and Loki felt as though he could write a book with all he’d learned about sharks in those two-ish hours since they’d left the compound. After paying the entrance fee, Mina took Loki’s hand and led him inside, surprising him; he knew her to be quite physical with her friends, and she grabbed his arm all the time when she wanted to lead him someplace, but the simple gesture was unexpected, as was the fact that she seemed not to think anything of it. Oddly enough, it didn’t bother him half as much as he’d have expected.

 

    With her singular focus, Loki expected her to go straight to the shark exhibit, but she instead led them on a meandering course through the whole aquarium, admiring the rest of the exhibits with a peaceful smile on her face. There weren’t as many people there as he would have expected, but he noticed she was taking them to areas with a sparser number of patrons standing around and felt a sort of gratitude that she was respecting his aversion to crowds, especially without drawing any attention towards it. As he watched the marine life swimming, floating or crawling around in the tanks, he felt his irritation from the argument and what had caused it drain away to be replaced with a sort of tranquillity, and felt even more grateful for the outing. Mina had been right; he really did need to get out of the compound, for something other than work, anyway.

 

    He tensed a bit when he noticed a group of people a ways away looking and pointing towards them and whispering amongst themselves, but as though sensing his shift in mood, Mina got his attention and pointed at a school of brightly coloured fishes swimming by with a grin on her face that had him smiling a bit back at.

 

    Eventually they reached the shark exhibition and Loki had to admit, seeing them up close like that, he could sort of see the appeal; they certainly were impressive animals. Beside him, Mina was positively enraptured, and he was once again amazed that she’d delayed getting there long enough to show him the rest of the place. He smiled a bit to himself as he turned his attention back to the tank; she was a curious creature.

 

    “You know, I got munched on by one of those once,” Mina spoke up casually after a while as one of the sharks swam closer to the glass.

 

    Loki’s gaze snapped towards her. “Sorry; _what??”_

 

    “Oh, yeah; it’s a funny little story,” she continued unconcernedly, “I was at the beach with some sort-of-friends, and they decided to hang out outside the water for a while. I didn’t really want to get out yet, so I stayed behind, and as I was floating around a shark came up and decided to take a bite out of me.” She picked up her necklace with her thumb and said with a grin, “They actually dug this out of my hipbone in the hospital; the doctor was nice enough to let me keep it.”

 

    “I’m... I must confess I am surprised you survived such a thing,” he said, half questioningly, trying to wipe the incredulous look he knew was there from his face with marginal success.

 

    Mina giggled a bit. “Well, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The teeth missed my spine by a couple inches, otherwise I’d have really been in trouble, and all the screaming and splashing drew attention fast enough to get me to the hospital before I bled out too much. It did leave me with this badass scar, though!” as she finished, she turned towards him and lifted her shirt to reveal her left side, where sure enough there were slightly jagged scars running in a semicircle over her abdomen and disappearing into the waistband of her jeans.

 

   It took Loki a moment to find his words, simply standing there staring between the scar, the necklace, and Mina’s beaming face. “And, ah, what happened? To the shark, I mean?”

 

    “You mean besides getting probably the biggest shock of its life?” she replied with a snort. At his raised eyebrow, she shrugged, “Nothing happened to it; it just swam away, probably questioning its life choices.”

 

    Loki stared at her a moment longer then turned back to the tank. “I’m surprised after that you would still name these your favourite animals,” he mused as he watched a shark lazily swimming past close to the glass.

 

    “Well, why wouldn’t I? It’s not like it meant any harm; it was just doing what sharks do. Not its fault its teeth are razor sharp and I’m so soft and squishy.”

 

    He chuckled softly. “No, I suppose not.”

 

    They stayed there a good while longer, until Thor called Mina asking if they were going to be away for much longer as he needed Loki to go over some paperwork with him, which caused Loki to roll his eyes and mutter something in asgardian that she doubted was particularly flattering. As they sat in the car on their way back to the compound he turned to her and lightly touched her hand resting at her side to get her attention, earning a questioning look.

 

    “I wish to... thank you. For today,” he said a tad haltingly, “You were right in that I needed a diversion; and though I suspect this trip was more for you than me, I do appreciate it.”

 

    Mina smiled warmly at him. “I get needing a break from everyone,” she replied, “They can be a bit much after a while for me, and I actually _like_ them; I imagine it’s worse for you.”

 

    He looked down with a slight huff of a laugh. “I admit, while it’s certainly not new to me, it can be... _trying..._ being surrounded by so many people who despise me. The glaring gets rather tedious after a time.”

 

    “I wouldn’t say they _despise_ you, exactly; they just don’t like you very much. Mind you, your attitude towards them doesn’t exactly help.”

 

    “Which is rather the point. We are not friends, we are tangentially allies solely because of Thor; there’s no need to pretend otherwise,” he replied somewhat loftily, turning back to his window.

 

    Mina stared at him for a long moment. “Wow; you are so full of it.”

 

    He looked back at her incredulously. “I beg your pardon?”

 

    “That is not why you keep your distance and go out of your way to push people’s buttons, and you know it.”

 

    “Oh?” he said coolly, crossing his arms at his chest, “And why do I do these things, then, since you seem to know my mind better than I do?”

 

    She shrugged. “It’s a defence mechanism. If you push people away first, they don’t get the chance to do it to you.” His eye twitched a bit and he looked back out the window, settling back in his seat. “For the record; that doesn’t work on everyone.”

 

    “So I have noticed.”

 

    They rode the rest of the way in silence, with Loki heaving a sigh that was not as annoyed as he wanted it to be when she stayed beside him on his way to the meeting room where Thor was waiting. She only smiled knowingly, causing him to roll his eyes.

 

    At the doorway to their destination, he paused and looked down at her. “Alright, I admit; perhaps you’re one mortal worth bothering with after all.”

 

    Mina giggled, earning a raised eyebrow. “Who told you I was mortal?”

 

    He blinked. “Wait, what?”

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment. Pretty please?


End file.
